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Vision Zero picks up speed - Page 6 — Brooklynian

Vision Zero picks up speed

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Comments

  • booklaw
    booklaw
    I think the traffic enforcement issue comes down to the question of whether New Yorkers want policemen cooping in cars or giggling in apartment lobbies. Most folks would probably prefer cops walking the beat rather than driving the streets.

    Also, it's less tax-intensive when the city doesn't have to buy additional patrol cars, or pay for gas and for expensive repairs after high-speed chases.
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    I think the traffic enforcement issue comes down to the question of whether New Yorkers want policemen cooping in cars or giggling in apartment lobbies. Most folks would probably prefer cops walking the beat rather than driving the streets.

    Also, it's less tax-intensive when the city doesn't have to buy additional patrol cars, or pay for gas and for expensive repairs after high-speed chases.
    That would be very discouraging to Amy Cohen, the mother of the little boy killed by a speeding van in Park Slope. She was one of those who had lobbied hard for the law to be changed.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    As a result of a declining crime rate, I would like to believe that the police are under some pressure to justify their present size.

    I would think it would be in their interests to show their support for traffic enforcement.

    ...they certainly have issued more tickets.

  • pragmaticguy
    pragmaticguy
    Here's something to mull over..... Most drivers when they see a red light coming up either slow down or at least coast to the intersection. This enables them to stop should there be a late crossing pedestrian or vehicle still passing in front of them.  Next year Audi is coming out with a cell phone based app that will tell the driver how many seconds until the light they're coming up on turns green. Not all areas transmit this info but I guess some do. So, now we're going to have a bunch of idiots looking at the displays in their cars to see when the light will turn green which I'm sure will make them figure they don't have to slow down. And....if you happen to be in the lane in front of them in your car and you don't step on the accelerator quickly enough you may get read ended. This is something I hope never gets put into a vehicle but it probably will.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    image
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    The above family has become the face of Vision Zero.

    However, a more accurate depiction of the kids most at risk would not involve their deceased son.

    http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5380-kid-un-friendly-streets-child-pedestrian-deaths-injuries-vision-zero-new-york-city
  • mugofmead111
    mugofmead111
    This picture in Gotham Gazette's article isn't at Nostrand and Avenue H.
    image

    That intersection is Nostrand/Flatbush (with Hillel Place behind where that new Dallas BBQs will open). Crossing at the Flatbush Junction sucks. I will give them credit for having a pedestrian "walk" sign just for pedestrians while the vehicles on Flatbush and Nostrand get a red light. The duration could be a little longer though.

    Crossing at this intersection (Foster/Bedford/Flatbush) also sucks.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited October 2014
    The new speed limit is in effect November 7th.

    image
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited October 2014
    DeBlasio seems to have chosen the Lower Eastside to sign the actual bill lowering the speed limit.

    http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20141027/lower-east-side/de-blasio-signs-bill-lowering-speed-limit-near-site-of-girls-death

    Delancy St is pretty crazy. I saw a ped get hit at Delancy and Eldridge in 1998. I was first on the scene, and waited with the driver for the ambulance. I suspect the ped died in the ambulance or the hospital. He was barely alive when he was with me and the crowd that quickly formed.
  • travelriter
    travelriter
    edited October 2014
    I'm grateful to be alive.

  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    We are are glad you are alive too.
  • newguy88
    newguy88
    edited October 2014
    Glad you're still with us! Keep in mind the laws are written as if you bicycle was a car and not a bicycle. Don't get annoyed with other cyclists for making choices that keep them safe. 
  • nothinlikeabklyngirl
    nothinlikeabklyngirl
    Wishing you a full and speedy recovery @travelriter.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
  • mike dunlap
    mike dunlap
    NYC motorists killed 6 people this week and very seriously injured at least 8 others.  
  • mike dunlap
    mike dunlap
    edited October 2014
    The above family has become the face of Vision Zero.

    However, a more accurate depiction of the kids most at risk would not involve their deceased son.

    http://www.gothamgazette.com/index.php/government/5380-kid-un-friendly-streets-child-pedestrian-deaths-injuries-vision-zero-new-york-city
    I don't think they or anyone else are claiming their son was the type of child most at risk for being killed by a driver.  They have just taken the lead at pushing for this stuff to be seriously addressed.

    I've long found it pretty amazing that some of the people most opposed to road diets (e.g. the NBBL crew) are older white people who generally claim to be socially and politically progressive.  Nothing unites old Republicans and old Democrats like their addiction to cars and hatred of anything that even slightly threatens their supply.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    How are we doing are a yearly basis?

    Are we going to beat our 2013 numbers?
    http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/01/31/nypd-16059-pedestrians-and-cyclists-injured-178-killed-in-traffic-in-2013/
  • mike dunlap
    mike dunlap
    How are we doing are a yearly basis?

    Are we going to beat our 2013 numbers?
    http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/01/31/nypd-16059-pedestrians-and-cyclists-injured-178-killed-in-traffic-in-2013/
    WNYC's tracker shows 112 pedestrian and 17 cyclist killings.  At that pace there will be around 155 total this year.  So a drop from last year (178) and in line with 2012 (152).


  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited October 2014
    Given how few cyclists there are relative to the number of peds, cyclists are a lot more at risk of death.
  • newguy88
    newguy88
    edited October 2014
    Actually pedestrian deaths and cyclists injuries were at a five year high in 2013 according to Streets Blog. http://www.streetsblog.org/2014/10/29/nyc-pedestrian-and-cyclist-traffic-injuries-hit-five-year-high-in-2013/
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    According to that blog, there were 9 cyclist fatalities and 183 dead peds in  2013,   a ratio of approximately 1:20.

    Regardless of which numbers we use, being a cyclist is far riskier than being a ped.
      


  • southeast
    southeast
    edited November 2014

    Hamill: We may lose lives to road rage with the new 25 mph speed limit



    lol
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    image

    Western Crown Heights edition
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited November 2014
    A video preceded by an ad:

    http://www.businessinsider.com/vision-zero-traffic-fatalities-new-york-2014-11
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    edited November 2014
    Now that we have passed a lower speed limit and have told everyone (ahem, Albany) we are doing as much as we can to enforce it, it is time to return to those much coveted East River Bridges.

    Let's argue trucks on Canal Street are dangerous (which is easy, because they are): http://gothamist.com/2014/11/11/canal_street_deaths.php

    Then, once everyone is in agreement, let's point out that Albany won't let NYC ban trucks on this route.

    Then, let's point out that the reason there are so many trucks on this route is that the trucks take it to avoid the tolled crossings.

    Then, now that we have successfully demonized Albany, let's figure out something we are willing trade for the right to tolling the bridges:

    Suggested music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycZdVI-gQxs


  • pragmaticguy
    pragmaticguy
    C'mon now, trucks on Canal St. aren't dangerous. People getting in the way of trucks is where the problems occur. I've been down there hundreds of times and haven't gotten run over once.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    Most people find being afraid of them to be easy.
  • pragmaticguy
    pragmaticguy
    By the way....I've noticed people trying to stick to the 25 mph limit on EP but in front of my office on St. Johns 40 is no problem.
  • whynot_31
    whynot_31
    They may perceive EP as having speed traps, but not the blocks with lots of small children (such as St. John's).

  • homeowner
    homeowner
    Here's the rub with the Canal Street problem. One of the two fatalities wasn't truck related at all. The other involved a garbage truck, which probably is going to be exempted in any ban on trucks. If Canal is removed as a truck route, some alternate street will need to be selected as a truck route in the area. Given the fact that many of the streets there are narrow and crowded, there aren't a lot of other options. Then you have to take into account that while much of the truck traffic may be from vehicles trying to use the Manhattan Bridge to get into/out of Brooklyn, there is a fair amount of local traffic servicing the businesses in Chinatown, Soho and Tribeca. What is the option for those trucks wanting to get east/west?

    I wish Margaret Chin would have looked at the truck map before she made this proposal. What's the alternative, sending trucks to Worth Street? Removing Canal from the truck routes removes the only east west through route south of 34th street and would result in significant traffic being rerouted through several other neighborhoods as an alternative. Imagine trucks having to come off the Williamsburg and then go north to 14th street then south again to get to the west side, or having to go south to Wall Street then back north. That's a lot of gas, emissions, and significant additional time and road miles. For all the Vision Zero proponents, I think you guys need to support local warehousing and distribution to get trucks off the road, and stop acting as if legislating traffic is going to make it go away. Start by not turning manufacturing, factory and warehouse spaces in places like CH into beer gardens, cheese caves, and expensive lofts. Otherwise we will be drinking a lot of $20 pints as our drinks meander through the city to get to us.
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